Legal fraternity throws weight behind LHC judge

Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema announcing to send a reference against Lahore High Court Justice Jawad Hassan to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has shocked the legal fraternity that has vehemently condemned it, saying no reference could be filed against a judge on account of error in his order.

Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA), the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) — the regulatory body of lawyers — and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) — the prestigious lawyers’ body and other legal luminaries threw their weight behind the high court’s justice and expressed strong apprehensions over the governor’s statement.

In their statement, SCBA President Ahsan Bhoon and Secretary Waseem Mumtaz Malik said that Justice Jawad Hassan was not only an independent, honest and competent judge but was also an asset to the superior judiciary.

The entire legal fraternity of the country stands behind him, they asserted.

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"It is quite shocking to see incumbent Punjab’s governor has constantly made the mockery of the Constitution, ridiculed the office of governor, deviated from the Constitution and sabotaged the democratic norms,” the statement said and noted that the governor’s “tyrannical mindset” had no parallel in the country’s history.

Smelling rat in the besieged governor's actions, the SCBA questioned on whose behest and under what authority was the governor deviating from the constitutional norms, adding that it appeared that Cheema was trying to stir chaos and lawlessness in the largest province of Pakistan.

"Being the custodian of the Constitution, it is incumbent upon the apex  judiciary to take notice of unconstitutional steps taken by the present governor Punjab and that is why the honourable Mr Justice Jawad Hassan has rightly given the decision in accordance with the Constitution and the law."

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SCBA representatives also strongly condemned the onslaught against the honourable judges and the judiciary and said “no one will be allowed to malign the dignity and respect of judges for petty political gains”.

The lawyers’ body warned if the crisis persists unabated, the legal fraternity reserved every right to take punitive action so as to take wrongdoers to the task.

Justice Hassan an upright judge

Meanwhile, throwing weight behind the LHC judge, PBC Vice-Chairman Hafeez ur Rehman Chaudhry said the former was an independent, upright, honest and very competent judge, adding he was “an asset for our superior judiciary and lawyers of Pakistan stand by with him”.'

Echoing SCBA’s concerns, Mr Chaudhry said that the lawyers' community would have to chalk out its future course of action in order to protect the independence of the judiciary if the campaign did not stop.